the subject, and he had read several essays, which had informed him of
many curious facts. He recollected, in particular, to have met with the
account[2] of a bird that had been poisoned, and whose case bore a
strong resemblance to the present. He begged leave to examine the cage,
in order to discover whether there were any lead about it, with which the
birds could have poisoned themselves. No lead was to be found: he next
examined whether there were any white or green paint about it; he
inquired whence the water came which the birds had drunk; and he examined
the trough which held their seeds. The lady, whilst he was pursuing these
inquiries, said she was sure that the birds could not have died either
for want of air or exercise, for that she often left the cage open on
purpose, that they might fly about the room. Henry immediately looked
round the room, and at length he observed in an inkstand, which stood
upon a writing table, a number of wafers, which were many of them chipped
round the edges; upon sweeping out the bird-cage, he found a few very
small bits of wafer mixed with the seeds and dust; he was now persuaded
that the birds had eaten the wafers, and that they had been poisoned by
the red lead which they contained; he was confirmed in this opinion, by
being told, that the wafers had lately been missed very frequently, and
it had been imagined that they had been used by the servants. Henry
begged the lady would try an experiment, which might probably save the
life of her new favourite; the lady, though she had never before tried an
experiment, was easily prevailed upon. She promised Henry that she would
lock up the wafers; and he prophesied that her bird would not, like his
predecessors, come to an untimely end. Archibald Mackenzie was vexed to
observe, that knowledge had in this instance _succeeded_ better, even
with a lady, than flattery. As for Forester, he would certainly have
admired his friend Henry's ingenuity, if he had been attending to what
had passed; but he had taken a book, and had seated himself in an
arm-chair, which had been placed on purpose for an old gentleman in